Bug, Meet Foot
by WerewolfWarrior2015
Summary: ABANDONED. Muggles and magicals have long since known of each other. The discovery of a alien ruins on Mars has led to the discovery of Relays - magical gateways so powerful that they can transport thousands of people across entire star systems in the blink of an eye - and an entirely alien galaxy. And a human warlock uncovers an ancient secret that dooms the entire galaxy.
1. Prologue: The Boy-Who-Survived

_DISCLAIMER: Bioware owns everything Mass Effect. This work is not for profit._

 _A/N - This is my attempt at an HP / Mass Effect crossover. A few things that I'd like to disclose upfront  
_

 _1\. This story does not have a Commander Shepard. Harry Potter is, for all intents and purposes, Shepard._

 _2\. There is no Element Zero. No biotics. And tragically, no biotiball._

 _3\. Human beings are the only sapient / intelligent creatures on Planet Earth. No centaurs. No merpeople. And unfortunately, no Veela. For goblins, see the next note.  
_

 _4\. There are no volus. They're all goblins in this story. I may delve into the history of Planet Earth, but I don't think there'll be a goblin-run Gringotts. Goblins, for all intents and purposes, are alien to Earth, and - for those unfamiliar with Mass Effect - native to a planet called Irune._

 _5\. Technomancy is a thing. The non-magicals use it to stay on par with their magical brethren._

 _6\. The asari are an all-magical race that do not quite require wands, mimicking the ME biotics spread among the races. The turians and salarians shall be heavily biased towards technomancy, though they will have sorcerors too. Same goes for the Krogan_

 _7\. Magicals are rare among non-asari races_

 _8\. There are no unforgivables in this universe. Shields work almost universally, though they may crumble in the face of the most powerful spells / technomancy powered weapons. But normal combat shall involve the whittling down of shields - which may be generated either through technomancy, or sustained through a Protego._

 _9\. Several magical creatures may take over the more... native creatures on each planet. Such as in this very chapter._

* * *

The shuttle rattled and the walls groaned as the three-million-credit coffin plummeted into the atmosphere of an ugly brown planet light years away from Jump Zero. A corporal with a five o'clock shadow leaned forward in his seat, staring right across at a black-haired young man with brilliant green eyes and a special forces "N3" patch on his blood-red armour.

"So… how, in the name of all that is good and holy, did _you_ make N-seven?" Toombs asked the green-eyed man, "I mean…. Those guys have a height limit, right?"

Ronald Weasley - a tall, gangly redhead who had seated himself diagonally opposite Toombs - laughed and shoved playfully at the black-haired man who the corporal had just addressed. "Told you someone would ask about that, Harrykins," he said brightly.

Harry scowled. "Shut it, Toombs," he said in a snippy tone, "And two things – one, I'm not N-seven… not yet, anyway. And two, I'm not that short."

The men and women sitting around them burst into laughter at that comment and Harry grinned, despite himself, as Ron patted him on the back with a mock sympathetic tilt of his head.

"Seriously though," Dean said, checking his knee pads for wear, and repeating the same question he had asked five minutes ago, "Does anyone have the name of this planet with the distress signal?"

"If the midget N-seven doesn't know…" Toombs said and Ron cracked up again.

"Oh for the love of…" Harry groaned, "I'm _not_ N-seven. And why would you think being short is such a huge obstacle in the way of getting to N- _three_?"

"Have you ever seen a short N-seven?" Toombs asked him with a raised eyebrow, "Especially one as short as you? 'Cos I totally haven't."

"Really?" Harry snapped, "You've never seen a female N-seven?"

"I… find that remark mildly sexist," said a husky voice from the seat closest to the flat metal panel that separated the passenger compartment from the pilot's cabin.

Harry gulped, stared at his commanding officer – Staff Commander Jane Steepleton, a tall brunette woman with immense shoulders and a strong jaw – and scrambled to defend himself. "I'm just saying… the average height of women…" he stammered.

"… is probably greater than yours, short stuff," Asha completed from his left, "Which is why you will _never_ get laid."

Harry flushed while Toombs, Dean and Ron snickered.

"Best to let go while you're a teenie bit behind, mate," Ron advised.

"Best listen to the good-lookin' redhead," Asha echoed, with a flirtatious wink at Ron over Harry's head.

"Sorry Asha," Ron said, winking right back at the brunette, "Already taken." Ron flashed the ring on his hand, and then began to pull on his gloves as Asha sighed melodramatically.

Harry grumbled to himself and stared at the shuddering floor of the shuttle, not even daring to look in Ron's direction. The sight of that ring was not something he had steeled his heart for. Not yet.

* * *

 _"_ _Harry," Hermione said with a frown, her bushy completely frazzled and her eyes wide with a tinge of pity, "I'm… I just… I…"_

 _Harry braced for the blow, and felt his bottom drop out of his stomach. He tried desperately to work his mouth to form a smile, but his face seemed incapable of displaying even a modicum of happiness._

 _"_ _I love Ron," Hermione said simply, her voice breaking, "I always did. Harry… I never even looked at you that way… I just…"_

 _Harry pursed his lips and let out a deep breath._

 _"_ _Harry," Hermione said softly, her hand rising to cradle his cheek, but he flinched away. "Harry," she repeated, her hand dropping back to her side dejectedly, "Why do you do this to yourself?"_

* * *

He grimaced as he went through the usual pre-mission checks, performing last-minute tests of his equipment and armour.

 _Functioning omni-tool_. _Check_.

 _Spare heat sinks. Check._

 _Oxygen. Check._

 _Optimal internal environment. Check._

 _Functioning sub-dermal wand. Check._

Harry idly watched lightning arc between his fingertips as he flexed his magic and felt power course through his veins at a simple runic gesture of his hand.

"Maybe," Toombs said, watching him carefully, "Warlocks have an easier time of the ICT?"

"Oi!" Ron said indignantly, "I'm a warlock!"

"Oh yeah," Toombs said curiously, "You two stayed at the villa together, didn't you?"

Ron shrugged. "I left early," he said, "Barely passed N-one, dropped out the week after."

"No shame in that," Asha said emphatically, winking at him again.

"Just sayin'," Ron said, jerking a thumb at Harry, "He might be my best bud, but _bloody hell_ , was I made aware of my own limitations when this guy breezed right through everything the villa threw at him."

"I didn't _breeze_ through it," Harry scoffed, "I barely held on."

"Whatever you say, midget," Toombs said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms, "I personally think there's a lot more ' _On your knees soldier_ ' involved in your N-seven qualification than you're telling us, Potter."

"Uh huh," Harry said, looking at Toombs dully, "In your dreams, corporal."

"Yeah," Dean said enthusiastically, "Harry doesn't have to get on his knees. He's already the right height!"

Harry groaned again as the teammates he was getting ready to murder burst into laughter. _Again_.

"You guys are the worst teammates, _ever_ ," he said, exasperated, "Way to make a guy feel… er…"

"Small?" Asha completed, giggling at him. She then clapped him on the shoulder and said, "We're just ribbing you… you know that, right? Taking the piss, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry grumbled, and then flashed her a grin.

"Maybe we can get together for a post-mission workout and you can show me where you're _not_ short, eh?" she said with a wink, and Harry flushed again.

"We've seen him in the showers," Dean stage-whispered, "And I think Harry makes up for his… er… height very well."

Asha and Ron stared at Dean.

"So… after that awkward interlude where Dean came out of the closet and confessed his love for my best friend's dong," Ron said jovially, "Let's finally see Harrykins get somewhere with a woman!"

Toombs snickered and Harry palmed his face, not trusting himself to speak.

"Alright boys!" the CO said abruptly, standing up, "We're here! That distress signal is still going strong. Couple of wildcat miners dug themselves right into a cave-in. We get in there, save those poor suckers, and get right out!"

Harry got up and sent out a burst of magic again. The helmet clamped down over his head, letting out a hiss of compressed air and his shield burst into existence around him. He nodded to Ron and Dean, who cast their own shields around themselves. A blue sizzle indicated that the non-magicals had activated their own shields as well, powered by technomancy rather than the pure magic of the human warlocks.

"Any idea what we're going to be dealing with, ma'am?" he asked, his voice echoing in his teammates' headsets, "Apart from the miners?"

The CO shrugged. "No idea, LT," she said, "But the brass says a couple of scout ships have performed recon on the area – the area shows signs of an earthquake, and the timing of the distress signal seems pretty consistent with the last known tremor on the planet. We land, we blast that entrance apart and we pick 'em out."

"Sounds simple enough," Ron commented.

The CO merely nodded and looked at her omni-tool, frowning.

"Sounds like a pretty simple op for an entire platoon, ma'am," Harry ventured, "Are the other shuttles sitting this one out?"

The CO looked up at him, and Harry could make out her troubled eyes through her helmet.

"Brass says we're all to deploy," she muttered, "Something about this being a good opportunity for a full-strength team exercise… or some such."

"Rear echelon _mother_ …" Ron grumbled.

"We've been crammed in here for twelve hours," the CO interrupted lightly, "May as well get you lazy suckers to haul ass and carry out a simple mission. Consider this a training exercise, of sorts."

"Standard search and rescue op," Harry corrected. The CO merely grinned at him.

"Commander Steepleton," Dean asked, "Quick question – what's the name of this damn planet?"

"Official nomenclature says it's AR2123-A," the CO replied, "But the planet does have another name – a more recent one that's not quite official yet.

"Akuze."

* * *

 ** _8 months later_**

Harry shivered as the cold air touched the bare skin at the back of his neck and pulled his scarf tighter around himself. There was no chirping of birds, no gentle banter of civilians, and despite the cool morning breeze, there was a stillness around him that was almost stifling.

 _BANG!_

Gunshots resounded in the open space, and Harry grit his teeth, forcing himself not to wince, not to give in to the waking nightmares that had never ceased to subside in the wake of Akuze.

* * *

 _"_ _Harry?" Asha whimpered, unseeing, as she clawed at his chest-piece, her nails scraping in futile manner against the special-forces label he had once so proudly affixed to its front, "Harry? Harry! I can't… I don't think… Harry, I can't…"_

 _"_ _Asha," he whispered, his voice breaking, "Hold on, don't let go, please… please, please, please…"_

 _"_ _ON THE LEFT!" came their CO's voice in his helmet, "Watch out! To my left!"_

 _Harry dragged Asha behind the metal walls of what was once a prefab shelter as he looked around wildly, hoping against hope, despite the immense guilt that rose up within him, that their CO was far, far away from them._

 _And a massive, plumed, serpentine head burst out of the ground not ten feet away from him, its maw gaping wide with rows of razor-sharp fangs gleaming in the pale light of the foreign sun that shone over the planetary hellscape they found themselves in. Harry threw his hand outward instinctively, sending a massive burst of fire at it, but he knew it was hopeless. The armoured hide creaked due to the force of his attack, but Harry was forced to throw himself away from Asha as the maw crashed into the space between them._

 _"_ _Aaaaarrrgghhh!" Harry screamed as he unloaded upon the creature with the gun in his right hand, even as his left slashed downwards, sending an enormous arc of white light slashing right through the carapace of the hellish creature._

 _The maw came apart with a screech, showering him in blood and gore and the rest of the body flopped to the ground, writhing in the throes of death._

 _And to his horror, as the smoke cleared, he witnessed Asha standing up, groping around for her lost weapon in vain._

 _"_ _Harry!" she screamed, her voice breaking in a manner that squeezed a choked sob from him, "Harry! Is it gone? Harry! I can't… I can't see! Harry, I can't see!"_

 _"_ _Asha!" he screamed, "Stay DOWN!"_

 _And another massive, plumed head burst forth, toppling the metal pillar Asha had been leaning against._

 _"_ _No!" Harry gasped._

 _For a fleeting moment, he saw Asha standing there, her black hair swaying in an unseen wind, her eyes scarred by acid, her hand outstretched, her gloved fingers searching, hoping for a saviour. Helplessly striving to reach some form of shelter. Desperately clawing for providence._

 _The maw swooped down and Harry merely stared in horror as Asha's scream was muffled by a bestial roar and a storm of fangs._

Harry curled his fists until his fingernails were digging into his palm and cursed as his entire body began to shudder uncontrollably. He was _stronger_ than this. He _needed_ to be stronger than this.

With great effort, he prised apart the fingers of his left hand and ran it through his messy hair in a nervous gesture. He was here for more than just the funeral of his entire platoon. His erstwhile _family_.

He needed, _wanted_ to see her. To see some sliver of forgiveness in her eyes. Some relief for the incessant guilt that plagued him.

* * *

 _"_ _Ron!" Harry yelled into his helmet, frantically wiping away at the dirt on his visor and cursing the HUD that had long since been disabled, "Ron, where are you?"_

 _A roar sounded from his right and Harry crouched lower into the pile of rocks, trying not to hear the shrieks of pain and cries of horror as his platoon was massacred by the fell wyrms that the planet itself seemed to spawn with dreadful frequency. He shuddered in place, with flashes of Mindoir flooding his mind and tearing him asunder from within as the world burned without._

 _His helmet replied to his plea with static._

 _He raised his head above the mound ever so slowly, trying to catch a glimpse of his teammates and steal some sliver of hope, only to see a flat plain, pockmarked with crevasses and chasms that burned with fell magicks._

 _"_ _Commander?" he asked, his voice echoing faintly through his helmet, across the bare plains. No one replied._

 _The ground rumbled underneath him; Harry screwed his eyes shut, and collapsed to the ground again, curling involuntarily and waiting for the horrendous maw to open up once more and swallow him whole._

 _Nothing happened. Seconds of panic turned into minutes of dread that stretched into an hour of nerve-wracking silence._

 _Finally, Harry opened his eyes to a different sort of rumble – the dull sputter of an A-61 Mantis clunking onto the rock mere feet away from him._

 _"_ _Son," a voice came from his left, and he looked up to see an N-seven officer, flanked by a squad of marines, looking down at him. The officer's helmet was tilted, though Harry could not tell if it was a gesture of curiosity or compassion. "Are you alright?" the man asked again, a hint of British seeping through the American accent._

 _Harry stared at the apparition for a moment, then looked around at the bare rock plains around him and beheld the smoking chasms that dotted its surface. No other soul could be seen, no familiar voice that echoed in his ears, and no other survivor to soothe his conscience._

 _He was alone. He had survived._

 _He had failed._

 _He collapsed onto his knees, his arms trembling wildly, and the world turned blurry as the marines crowded around him._

* * *

 _Hydra_. That was what the other races of the galaxy called the great beast that had torn apart his team.

Cut off one head, and another grows in its place. A magical parasite that infected entire worlds. More than a challenge on an ATV, and absolutely deadly on foot.

 _Fat lot of good that knowledge did them now_.

He strolled across the meadow, towards the solemn crowd that had gathered around the four dozen… _coffins_ that lay gleaming under the bright morning sun, the innocent blue sky mocking him with its azure, naïve cheer. He paused before the solemn procession of marines that marched out, stared at the coffins for a long moment and smiled, his curved lips creased with pain and his eyes beginning to water, as he spotted the casket of the man who had once been his best friend.

 _Ron Weasley_.

An _orange_ coffin.

 _A Chudley fan to the end, brother_.

Harry clasped his hands together tightly, as if trying to choke out the pain that had blossomed in his chest, and made his way towards a forlorn, bushy-haired girl, flanked by her parents.

"Hermione?" he asked, and winced as he saw the girl flinch. She turned towards him, her face draining of all colour.

"Harry?" she whispered, and his heart ached to see the flood of tears that marred her face.

He stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say, before he finally mustered enough courage to grunt, "I'm sorry. Hermione, I'm so…"

"Shut _up_ ," she said, her voice turning harsh abruptly, though grief still coloured her every movement. Harry took a step back, his eyes widening.

"Shut UP!" she screamed and the crowd around them quietened at once. Hermione's mother put an arm around her daughter, trying to comfort her, but the younger woman merely shrugged off the grip and glared at Harry.

"You survived," she said, her voice hard and heavy with sorrow, "You _survived_. You survived and he _died_."

Harry flinched and the world seemed to reel as his fists curled again.

"That doesn't mean you come up here and take a _turn_ at me," she snarled, wiping furiously at her eyes.

Harry gaped at her in horror, then looked around at the crowd, noticing the stricken look on the Grangers' faces as they tried to pull their daughter back.

"Hermione, I wasn't… I'm not," he stammered, "I'm sorry, Hermione…"

"You have no _right_!" she said, slashing her arm between them and a wave of magic exploded outward. Harry slammed his own palm up, instinctively conjuring a powerful shield that absorbed her jinx with nary an effort, but he reeled at the force of her accusation. "You have no _right_ to be sorry, when you… you haven't… you haven't lost a _thing_!"

The crowd went dead still and Harry's shoulders slumped as he took another step away from her. Hermione continued to glare at him in rage and sorrow, before her eyes seemed to clear, and she fell to the ground, sobbing, as her grief overpowered the other dominant emotion.

"She didn't mean that," her mother said apologetically as she knelt next to Hermione and draped her arms around her daughter, "Harry, she didn't…"

He barely even heard her. The sun shone down upon him, mocking him with its bright white light, so different from the pale orb that had shone over the hellscape that was Akuze. The cold wind lapped at him again, the cold, dead hands of his former team given form, grasping at his flesh and tearing him apart. His chest constricted as the accusations he had once levelled at himself turned almost… tangible with Hermione's voice.

He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't _be_ here.

He nodded tightly and turned away, his fists shuddering as he walked briskly towards the edge of the graveyard and into the city, away from the coffins of his comrades, and the only woman he had ever truly loved.

He was alone once more. A survivor. A _failure_.

* * *

 ** _Mindoir, 15 years ago_**

 _"_ _Lily!" his father roared, "Take Harry and go! NOW!"_

 _"_ _No, no, no, no," his mother screamed, "Please, James, please come with us!"_

 _"_ _I have to find Sirius," James said, his eyes wild and staring through the window of the cottage they had taken shelter in._

 _"_ _James, please…" Lily begged, tugging at her husband's shirt, "Don't leave me… not like this!"_

 _"_ _I'll come with you, Dad," Harry ventured, his voice coming out with far more boldness than he felt deep inside._

 _"_ _Absolutely not!" James said harshly, "Lily, GO! I have to go look for Sirius and Remus – we can still get past this!"_

 _Lily sobbed again as James leapt right through the window, conjuring a ball of light as he sped right into the thick forests of Mindoir. Harry watched his father go with dread filling his heart, but he pulled at his mother's arm nonetheless._

 _"_ _Mum, please," he said, "We're sitting ducks here. Please… we have to –"_

 _There was no warning. No shout of despair. No screams of pain. He heard a distant crack of air as a bullet zoomed right past him, and his shirt was splattered with blood as his mother collapsed into his arms, her once-fiery eyes now unseeing, her hand still raised towards the spot within the thick foliage of the nearby forest where his father had disappeared forever._

 _And all he could do was scream in horror as he realised he would never see his parents again. He was all alone._

* * *

 _A/N - So... does this work? I'm not too sure myself, but I'm going to try my damnedest to merge the two worlds together, though the merger may not be as seamless as I want it to be. Also, the 9 rules mentioned above are not inflexible. Let me know if those don't work, and if the argument is reasonable (which it very well might be, because I'm nowhere near as good as I want to be), I'll change it!  
_


	2. There's a Storm Comin'

_A/N: Thank you all, for your kind reviews! They were a huge help in terms of motivation for this chapter._

 _Disclaimer: Bioware / EA owns Mass Effect. J K Rowling owns Harry Potter. I'm just playing with each sandbox, though I desperately hope I'm not messing them up in the process._

* * *

"You're alright… Commander," Joker conceded at last, drawing a grin from Harry, "I mean, you don't do that whole ' _Don't you dare have fun, because fun is offensive to the holy code of Alliance-ness_.'"

"Holy code of the Alliance- _ness_?" Kaidan scoffed, from the co-pilot's seat, "C'mon, Joker, you can do better!"

The pilot – Jeff "Joker" Moreau - waved dismissively at Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and looked at Harry. "Seriously though, Commander," he said, holding out an open palm perpendicular to the floor, "I have to ask – hasn't anyone ever called you out on your… well… your… er…" He inched his palm closer to the ground uncertainly.

"Way to go, Joker," Kaidan said, palming his face.

"My height?" Harry asked, bemused. He shrugged. "Sure," he said, "But like I keep telling people, I _do_ pass the minimum height requirement for the corps. And you wouldn't blink an eye at me were we on Earth. But put me next to a bunch of marines and… yeah, guess I do appear pretty small."

Joker chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, Commander," he said, "I still think you got the lucky end of the stick. The damn stick left me with nothing but a fragile, totally breakable skeletal structure. Vrolik's Syndrome is a pain in the ass, but I'm still here, and I'm totally the best pilot in the whole damn galaxy."

"Or at least the most arrogant one," Kaidan countered with a grin.

"Or the one with the biggest head," Harry joined in, with a tilt of his head, "For a _human_."

"Oi!" Joker said, "I resemble that!"

"Indeed," Harry said, sharing a grin with the pilot.

"So," Joker asked, looking between him and Kaidan, "We're agreed that the turian is a complete _dick_ , right?"

Harry chuckled, while Kaidan merely shook his head and sighed.

"Hey!" Joker said indignantly, "I told you – steering this ship through a relay ain't easy. It's like hitting a target the size of a pin from a hundred yards away with a goddamn _shotgun_. A _claymore_!"

"Metaphorically speaking," Kaidan interjected, "And Joker… have you even _held_ a claymore? Or been to a shooting range?"

"I've been to a shooting range," Joker replied grumpily, then added hesitantly, "Once. In Basic."

"To be fair, turians are sort of infamous for understating things," Harry said, "Or at least, that's what they taught us in basic xenobiology."

"You took xenobiology?" Kaidan asked curiously, "In school."

Harry shook his head. "I was talking about ICT," he said with a shrug, "Need to learn about aliens if you have to perform missions in alien territory. Common facial expressions, interrogative sentences, intimidation tactics, the physiologically optimal place for a critical strike…"

Harry trailed off as he noticed that both Joker and Kaidan were staring at him. "Right," Joker said slowly, "Note to self. Do _not_ piss of the new XO."

Harry snorted. "To be honest," he said, scratching his chin, "I sort of slept through that entire module."

"So, maybe Nihlus paid me a _real_ compliment with his mandible-things?" Joker asked hopefully.

"Maybe," Harry said, "Not that I'd know. Like I said… slept through that module in ICT, and it's not like a single two-week crash course on alien culture is sufficient enough for any human to spot subtleties of that nature. And it's not like I have any turian… or alien… friends to compare facial expressions against."

"No alien friends?" Joker asked, "Not even asari?" The pilot waggled his eyebrows at Harry, who merely sighed.

"No," Harry said, chuckling softly, "And definitely not the sort of… er… companionship _you_ 're talking about. And… I'm not certain that a race so predicated on an ideal of beauty that has to do with grace and sophistication is going to be attracted to bums like us, Joker."

"Hey!" Joker said, still waggling his eyebrows, "I can be plenty _sophica-twisted_."

"That you can," Harry said with a grin.

"You have something against aliens, Commander?" Kaidan asked him curiously.

Harry stared flatly at the lieutenant. "Not really," he said mildly, "But I don't think I'll ever be close friends with one."

"Terra firma all the way, eh?" Joker asked.

"Hell no," Harry replied, "Those guys are a bunch of nutters. And I'm not xenophobic, but… okay, quick thought experiment – let's say the batarians finally go over the edge tomorrow and attack _both_ us and the asari at the same time."

"Best way to commit racial suicide," Joker interjected.

"It's a thought experiment," Harry insisted, "Let's say the batarians attack us _and_ the asari. They throw a dreadnought at one of our cruisers. There's an asari dreadnought nearby. If you had to pick from two scenarios – one, where the asari dreadnought helps us out; two, where the asari admiral waits until we weaken the dreadnought and crash out, only to swoop in and smash the damaged batarian dreadnought to pieces…

"… Which scenario do _you_ think is more likely?" Harry finished.

"Dreadnought against dreadnought fights are pretty damn hairy," Joker said, frowning, "A seventy-thirty for scenario two?"

"Exactly," Harry said with a firm nod, "Now replace that human cruiser with an asari one. What do you think the asari admiral would do? Swoop in to save her own people, or wait until they snuff it?"

"The answer's sort of obvious," Kaidan said, "But Commander, we'd do the exact same thing."

"I'm not saying we're saints and they're not," Harry said with a nod, "I'm only saying that every race always looks out for itself first. And _that_ is why I don't think I can ever be true friends with an alien. Which, of course, isn't to say there can't be exceptions to that rule."

Kaidan shrugged. "Personally," he said, "I think the aliens can be saints and jerks and everything in between, just like us."

"Exactly," Harry said with a nod, "Too many differences in culture, in language, in sensibilities, and _hell_ , in priorities…"

"Harry?" came the Captain's voice through the control panel in front of Joker, "You there?"

"Yes sir," Harry said at once, standing to attention, "Right here in the cockpit, Captain."

"Head to the CIC," Captain Anderson said, "I'll meet you there in a minute."

* * *

"What do you know of the Protheans, Commander?" Nihlus Kryik asked Harry as he entered the CIC, startling him with the abrupt question.

Harry turned to face Nihlus, barely managing to keep his expression nonchalant. "Only what they taught us in school," he said cautiously, "An ancient race of alien beings whose magic was far ahead of our own and much more powerful than any magic the races of the galaxy could muster today. They created the Relays that power us through entire star systems in the blink of an eye, and such wonders as the Citadel and Omega, then disappeared from the galaxy altogether."

"Yes," Nihlus said, circling around him and staring at the communications terminal within the CIC, "Your race found their ruins on Mars barely five decades ago, and here you are today – one of the more… prominent races in the galaxy."

"Actually," Harry said coolly, "We found their ruins _six_ decades ago. We discovered the Sol relay ten years after that."

"Yes," Nihlus said, turning to face him, "The key takeaway here, Commander, is that a bunch of Prothean _ruins_ propelled your race from obscurity to galactic prominence in the space of a human lifetime.

"Imagine what a working, live Prothean _beacon_ could do for a civilisation," the turian said.

"A beacon?" Harry asked, puzzled, "Like… a communications terminal?"

"A transmitter, of a sort, or so your scientists on Eden Prime tell us," Nihlus said, turning back around to look at the communications terminal again.

"So there's a Prothean _beacon_ on Eden Prime?" Harry said, slowly putting the pieces together. After a moment, it clicked. "I knew there was something fishy about a Council _Spectre_ joining a human crew for a milk run. I gather we're retrieving this Prothean beacon?"

"Perceptive," remarked Captain Anderson, joining the conversation as he entered the CIC, and both of the previous occupants turned to face him. "Yes Commander," Anderson continued, "You're to go down to the planet and retrieve the Prothean beacon. A discovery of this sort – a live, working artefact left behind by a long-dead, once-powerful alien race - has… galactic repercussions. The Council thought it best to send an asset of its own to assist us." Anderson jerked his head towards Nihlus.

"The Council wants to make sure that humanity doesn't reap the benefits of this discovery," Harry translated.

"The Council wants to make sure that we _all_ benefit from this discovery," Nihlus corrected smoothly, "Council law forbids the hoarding of Prothean artefacts by a single race, Commander."

"Right," Harry rejoined, his voice betraying his scepticism, "And you're here to make sure humanity adheres to Council Law."

"The Spectres are agents of the Citadel Council," Nihlus said smoothly, "We're here to make sure _everyone_ adheres to Council Law, but… that is not our primary objective."

"Oh?" Harry asked, curious despite himself. Humanity was not yet considered… mature enough to join the Council Spectres – top-secret agents of the Galactic Council for Inter-Species Cooperation, subject to no law but their own – but the Spectre corps were both revered and feared throughout the galaxy, and were said to comprise of the most dangerous beings in the entire galaxy.

"We're here to make sure that the galaxy _works_ ," Nihlus said, "Agents of order in a world determined to submerge itself in chaos."

"Unsung heroes," Harry said, his voice once again lending itself to sarcasm.

"No," Nihlus said with a tilt of his head, "You'll never hear me claim that, Commander. And maybe… just maybe, you'll know that for yourself when you're one of us."

It took entire seconds for Nihlus' words to register, after which Harry recoiled and stared at Nihlus, then at Anderson. "Captain?" he asked.

Anderson nodded tightly. "Perhaps it's time we told you, Commander," he said, "You're _the_ human candidate for the Spectre Corps."

"I… what?" Harry asked, completely taken aback.

Anderson merely chuckled and repeated, "You were selected for candidacy to the Spectres, Harry."

"I…" Harry said, grasping for the right words. No matter how sceptical he was about the feasibility of an organisation of a spy agency with barely a covenant in place, he was still struck speechless by the idea that _he_ , of all people, had been considered smart enough to become one of the elites in the galaxy.

"It's an honour," he said at last, finally regaining his bearings.

Nihlus started to say something else, but Joker's voice interrupted, echoing throughout the CIC.

"Priority message from Eden Prime, Captain!" he said, "And I really think you want to take this one."

Both Anderson and Nihlus reacted at once, turning to the communications terminal. "Bring it up, Joker," he said.

A few moments later, all three of them were gaping up at the vid that unspooled on the giant metal wall in front of them.

* * *

Fires raged across the surface of Eden Prime, lush fields of vegetation burning away to grey ash that darkened the skies and blackened the earth.

"Commander?" Jenkins panted as they ran over the crest of a little hillock, "What… what did you see?"

"I told you," Harry retorted, "I'm not sure what I saw. What _we_ saw. It's… hard to describe. It was almost like… like something weird just flashed right through the screen."

"What did it look like?" Kaidan asked quietly, "Could you describe its shape? Dimensions? Anything?"

"I don't know," Harry murmured, "I just… don't know. All I know is that I felt incredibly… _cold_ when that _thing_ appeared on the screen. Something vast. Powerful."

Harry shuddered again and then soldiered on, ignoring the other two for the moment as he focused on his surroundings. While the vegetation grew sparser as they headed towards the heart of the colony, where the beacon had last been located, the unholy smoke and ash that hung in the air did not help their visibility. The weight of the Predator in his right hand was comforting, and his left fist curled involuntarily, magic straining to seep out through it to soothe him.

He crouched behind a rock and gestured to Jenkins to scout out the open expanse that lay ahead.

"Stay low," he said hoarsely, "And for the love of all that is good and holy, Jenkins, put your bloody shields up."

Jenkins nodded and fumbled with his omni-tool for a moment, walking ahead as he left the shelter of the rocky outcrop.

"Jenkins!" Harry hissed, "Oh for…"

And to his horror, a burst of flame from beyond his field of vision engulfed Jenkins. Screams tore through the crackling of trees as the young, naïve corporal was reduced to ashes in front of Harry's eyes. The body spasmed, tongues of flame tearing into it, and then… _nothing_.

He paused, trying to digest the loss of one of his men, then brutally suppressed his emotions as he edged beyond the rocks to scout out the source of the fire, his heart hammering away at his ribs in guilt, pain and rage.

He was greeted with another hail of fire but he slammed his arm upward and a burst of magic made the enemy's fire curl in on itself. The ball of fire contracted, then imploded, to reveal the face of their nemeses – his first glimpse was _metal_ , curling and uncurling, drawing in upon itself and then rustling out.

He ducked his head as the next burst of fire assailed their cover.

"What the hell _are_ they?" Kaidan asked.

Harry shrugged. "All I care about right now," he growled through gritted teeth, as his left fist uncurled and magic surged around him, "Is whether those things can go _boom_."

He conjured a shield into existence around him and stood up, barely noticing his barrier shuddering as it strove to stem the enemy's flame, and then pushed his right fist out. A stream of brown light splashed into one of the two figures that skulked within the trees ahead of them. The staccato _pop_ next to him indicated that Kaidan had disapparated. He slammed his fist downwards and a _boom_ echoed throughout the clearing – he noticed his enemy's shields crumble, even as his own shields came crashing down.

He disapparated as the enemy's fire curled around him, like it had engulfed Jenkins, and reappeared right behind the figure. A burst of metal greeted him, but he ducked the punch, pushed his gun upwards and squeezed the trigger. Shards of metal littered the ground around him as he squeezed round after round from the pistol in his right hand.

He then surged towards his right, taking comfort in the dull thump of a downed enemy and curled his right hand around what would pass for the neck of the second enemy that Kaidan had tangled with and pulled it off the Lieutenant, who had been pinned down underneath the creature. Harry pressed his left palm into the creature's smooth, _cold_ torso and let out a violent spurt of magic.

A deafening burst of sound later, the creature lay splintered, with its broken, ruined body smoking in front of him. Kaidan shook his head glumly as he rose to his feet.

"Thanks, Commander," he said, "Damn thing nearly got me. Didn't expect it to be so… er… resistant to our magic. Transfiguration is damn near impossible on these… creatures."

Harry nodded. "I think I may have overpowered my _Bombarda_ – bloody thing wouldn't have gone down otherwise."

"What _are_ these… things?" Kaidan asked again, holding his pistol loosely in his right hand as they walked up to the first creature Harry had downed.

"No idea," the shorter man replied as he pushed his boot underneath the metal torso of the creature and flipped it over.

It was slightly taller and wider than a human being. Though it looked slightly anthropomorphic, there was little in common between it and them. The worst part, Harry thought, was that it had no _face_ to speak of. While a large central chunk of its torso had disappeared, thanks to his Carnifex, which spat out rune-covered pellets that exploded once they entered an enemy, the creature's head appeared to be intact – it was a faceless, smooth block of hardened obsidian, with narrow slits that resembled _eyes_. But the face had no other features – just strange little eyes filled with fell red light that seemed to dull with every passing second. There was a strange _grace_ to its build that reminded Harry of asari artefacts that he had once seen on a distant moon, and its body – that was at once smooth metal and jagged rock – was covered with strange, foreign runes that had glowed blood-red before he had vanquished the creature. Its hips and neck were a tangle of thick metal wires and pipes, and its legs were trunks of seamless metal.

"It looks… animated," Kaidan said carefully, staring at the body with an expression that approached revulsion.

"It's a _thing_ ," Harry spat, "A beast created by twisted magic." The red eyes dulled and the whirring noise from the creature died at once. Harry nodded to himself – the creature could _die_.

Kaidan merely sighed and gestured back along the path. Harry's face twisted into a pained grimace as he looked at the spot where Jenkins had once stood. He then shook his head, as if trying to wash away his guilt and stared resolutely ahead.

"We'll hold a funeral later," he said firmly, "It's time to go get that damned beacon."

* * *

Harry slammed into the golem after he apparated behind it, and he heard rather than saw the female soldier send bursts of lightning crackling into the metal creature to his right. "Kaidan, incinerate!" he cried.

He then rolled rapidly away from creature he had tackled to the ground, even as Kaidan's curse set both golems on fire, shorting out their shields. Harry murmured a protective charm and smashed his fist right through the faceless mask of the second golem, shattering the obsidian skull; the creature's glittering runes dulled as it collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut off.

A flurry of bullets from Kaidan's gun sent the other golem crashing to the ground, devoid of all life… though Harry did not know if he could call these things truly _alive_.

He took a deep breath and surveyed the creatures that lay at his feet, trying and failing to catalogue any differences between them and the golems they had killed earlier. He then sighed in frustration and turned towards the woman that they had swooped in to help – she was a handsome, brunette woman with fierce eyes and a large assault rifle with a precision scope affixed to its upper rung.

"Identify yourself, soldier," he barked.

The woman straightened automatically. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, sir!" she said, "Of the 212!"

Her eyes grew dull as she mentioned her regiment and her shoulders grew slack. "I…" she said faintly, "I don't know if my regiment is still…"

Harry softened his voice and nodded. "We did not see any coming in," he said, carefully avoiding the fact that they had seen plenty of dead marines, "Although, we may see more of your regiment as we head towards the beacon."

Ashley's face grew slightly taut, but she inhaled deeply and nodded. Harry pursed his lips – he recognised the expression on the Gunnery Chief's face. He had seen it far too many times in the mirror in another life – the grief of a survivor. The guilt that a lone survivor takes home with him. Or her, in this case.

"Chief," he asked, "Do you need medical help?"

"I… I'm alright," she replied quickly, though her voice was still faint, "I… I don't…" She stared with a haunted expression at a human corpse that was impaled upon a tall spike, practically quivering with magic, by the golems that had attacked her.

"What… what is that thing _doing_?" she asked. Harry stared at the spike and frowned, trying and failing to read the alien runes upon them. Kaidan was one step ahead of him though, and tried running the runes through his omni-tool.

"They're not Elder Futhark for sure," Kaidan said in a dry voice, "My omni-tool's as clueless as I am, Commander. They seem to match the style of certain ancient quarian runes, but nothing concrete."

" _Quarian_?" Harry remarked, "That's… unexpected."

With an ominous scraping sound that made their blood freeze in their veins, the spike retracted before their very eyes. The corpse twitched for a moment, and then began to transform – dark, matted fur ripped into existence through its flesh, its limbs elongated, its face twisted into a parody of a _snout_ , and the creature stood up, no longer human. Its eyes were bestial; it opened its maw to reveal an array of gleaming fangs as it roared and advanced upon them with breakneck speed.

"Is that…?" Kaidan gasped, even as Harry unloaded a series of curses upon it.

"Fire at that damn thing!" Harry barked and both Ashley and Kaidan seemed to rise out of their stupor to unload upon the creature with all they had.

Ultimately, the beast succumbed right before it could reach them, dropping five feet away.

"Holy _shit_ ," Ashley gasped, "Is that… is that a… _werewolf_?"

Kaidan frowned as they approached the creature, and Harry put another bullet into it for the sake of being doubly sure. "Lycanthropy was eliminated nearly a century ago," Kaidan murmured.

"Or not," Harry said, staring at the dreadful visage of the werewolf they had just downed. "Whoever these guys are," he said, staring at the dead golems, "They've found a way to resurrect one of our darker secrets. This is… beyond anything I had expected."

Harry stared into a distance, and shuddered as he realised with dawning horror that every colonist on the planet could potentially be turned into the enemy with the spikes that the golems had just used. And there could be _hundreds_ of the things on the colony at that moment.

"If it had bitten us…" Ashley asked, "Do you think we'd become… y'know…"

"Don't know about you," Harry said grimly, "Kaidan and I, on the other hand… this is bad. This is really, really bad – an _old_ secret that should have stayed dead and buried."

"You could accompany us," Harry said, turning to face Ashley, though he noticed Kaidan stiffen at his words, "We're heading deeper into the colony and we could use another pair of eyes. And a guide."

Ashley's expression grew hard and she nodded. "I'd appreciate that, sir," she said, her voice returning to its previous strength.

"Form up," he said with a nod, and Ashley readied her assault rifle. "You a magical, Chief?" he asked casually.

"No sir," she said at once, "But I know how to use a gun."

"Good enough for me," Harry said with a grin, and the woman smiled, though it did not quite reach her eyes.

"Let's go," he said, leading them towards a nearby clutter of prefabricated units. Harry smiled as he beheld the smooth metal walls with runes carved upon their surfaces to indicate the presence of wards. Wards against thieving, wards for safekeeping, wards for simple alarms… they were familiar to him. The faint sizzle of magic in the air, the tilled ground in front of each unit indicating a thriving agrarian economy – it reminded him of _home_. Of Mindoir, of basking in the glow of a pleasant noon sun, of his mother's songs carried upon the spring wind, of his father's mischievous antics when his friends came over for dinner.

His brief reverie was interrupted by Nihlus' voice in his ear.

"Potter," the turian murmured and both he and Kaidan flinched, "Heading towards what looks like a port with a rail system. Moving in to investigate. Let me know when you get here. Transmitting coordinates now."

"Acknowledged," Harry replied tersely. He then turned to Ashley and asked, "Did you see a turian head this way? Heavily armoured, with an arsenal of weapons that could kill an army?"

The woman, who had been looking around with a dark expression, frowned at him in confusion. "Don't really get many turians on Eden Prime, sir. Did… did this turian do all… this?"

Harry casually noted the inflection in the woman's voice when she said _turian_. "Don't think so," he said, "The turian I'm asking about is on our side. Name's Nihlus. A Council Spectre."

Ashley raised her eyebrows. "There's a _Spectre_ here?" she asked, "That's… that's… just… _wow_. Okay. Haven't seen him though."

Harry shrugged and moved towards a small prefab unit with a locked door.

"Sir?" Kaidan asked him as he started casting charms at the door.

"Just wondering why this door is locked," he said, "When so many others are not."

Finally, a snapping noise indicated that the locking ward had dropped, only to reveal a pair of cowering humans in lab coats.

"Please, don't hurt me!" the female said, her voice quivering with fear. She then managed to muster enough courage to peer beyond her upraised arms at Harry, who stood right at the door, and her eyes widened.

"You're human!" she said, dropping her arms and sighing in relief. She staggered to her feet as Harry stepped inside the unit, followed by Ashley and Kaidan. She continued, "Oh thank the gods, I thought you were… one of _them_."

"Blithering _fools_!" the other human – a wild-eyed male researcher - cried, "Blithering _fools_ who stumble upon the destruction of the galaxy and don't realise that the vanguard of their destruction is _here_!"

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, bewildered and staring at the man.

"Don't listen to him," the woman said in a pleading tone, "He's… Manuel. He's a brilliant scientist, though his genius is perhaps overshadowed by his eccentric nature. We've just been through a very trying episode… and we've… I don't think we've come out unscathed."

"The soldiers that were guarding you," Ashley asked suddenly, "Are they safe?"

"No one is safe!" Manuel cried incredulously, "Did you not hear a word I said?"

"Hush, Manuel," the woman chided, and then said to Ashley, "They barricaded us in here and went after the beacon. They told us it was safely on the train, but the geth were hot on their heels."

"The _geth_?" Harry asked, taken aback, "Those… golem-things… are _geth_? As in the legendary and infamous quarian creations that haven't been seen in four centuries?"

The woman inclined her head in assent. "Yes," she said, her voice still shaky, "The very same. I… don't know how they came here. But before they came in, this… this _thing_ … just burst through the sky. It felt _vast_. Powerful."

Ashley shuddered and added, "It was more than that. It felt… _unholy_."

Harry nodded grimly. "I know," he said quietly, "We saw… whatever that was… on a video sent by the 212. It was a… dreadful feeling… watching that thing just _appear_ on the planet's surface."

"The geth arrived shortly after," the scientist said, "They took us by surprise, but the soldiers were able to fend them off long enough to move the beacon to the train."

"And where does the train go?" Harry asked.

"The spaceport," Ashley answered at once, "We probably wanted to get it off planet."

"There aren't enough experts on Prothean technology on Eden Prime," the female scientist said wistfully, "Manuel, myself and a few others were the best we could do on short notice. The Citadel would be the best place to study the beacon."

"Did you see a turian around? Heavily armed?" Kaidan asked.

The woman shook her head, but the male scientist practically screeched, "Agent of the destroyer! He was here, commanding the geth armies!"

"Nihlus was with us when this whole thing happened," Harry said with a frown, "He couldn't have been here when the attacks began."

"Manuel… hasn't had his meds," the woman interjected, shifting from foot to foot, "But I did not see any turians at all, sir. We don't get any alien through-traffic here, save for the odd salarian or goblin merchant once in a blue moon."

Harry nodded and swept his eyes around the unit once more. He then beckoned to Kaidan and Ashley. "I'm locking you back in," he told the scientist, "And I'll inform Alliance Command of your location. We'll place a few wards around this place, but please, be _careful_."

"We will," the woman said firmly, "And sir… good luck."

* * *

Harry felt a chill creep up his spine as he beheld the corpse of his erstwhile turian ally; Nihlus Kryik lay sprawled on the metal floor of the terminal with a gaping hole through his chest.

He tore his eyes away from the body of the Council Spectre and stared hard at the man who they had caught hiding in the crates near the terminal.

"So you're telling me _another_ turian got the drop on him?" Harry said, inclining his head towards where Nihlus lay, "A turian called _Saren_?"

The man nodded and inched away from Ashley, who looked positively murderous. "And you did _nothing_?" she spat, "You saw a murder happen right before your eyes… hell, you saw your colleagues die in front of you and you did _nothing_ because you were concerned about a stack of weapons that you stole from the men and women that risked their lives protecting scum like _you_?"

"Chief," Harry said sharply, and Ashley recoiled, her face practically radiating righteous fury, "Stand _down_."

"I…" the man said, looking miserable, "… It seemed harmless. I… wasn't thinking, I just… I didn't…"

"Kaidan?" Harry asked.

"Got his ID, sir," Kaidan said calmly, "What do we do with him?"

"Nothing," Harry said, and the man flinched in surprise. Harry gave the man a cold stare. "We don't have the time, but if I _ever_ run across you again, and I find you smuggling weapons from the Alliance, or any other military service, I will _end_ your pathetic life. Do you get me?"

The man nodded fervently. Harry jerked his head towards the entrance to the terminal, and the man practically fled from the spot.

"This is bad," Kaidan murmured, still looking down at Nihlus' body, "How in the hell could someone get the drop on a _Spectre_?"

"That man said they knew each other. Nihlus knew this… Saren. Might have let his guard down," Harry said. He then narrowed his eyes at the transport wagon on the rail tracks. "Looks like the 212 headed that way, and so did the geth. Looks like it's our turn now."

Both Kaidan and Ashley nodded resolutely as they advanced across the platform and onto the transport.

* * *

Harry was beginning to realise that while the werewolves were lethal at close range – Ashley had nearly been mauled by one of the beasts, only to be saved by Kaidan's arcing _flagrate_ \- it was the _geth_ that posed the greatest danger – and he had discovered that there were more than just one type of geth: the geth they had faced earlier – creatures that seemed to favour elemental magic – and stockier beings of metal and _bone_ – creatures that seemed to favour other, more exotic forms of magic.

"Holy _shit_ ," Ashley murmured as a massive gout of fire was suppressed by Harry's conjured jet of water, only to duck under a flurry of spears that burst into existence around her. Her gun roared as it pushed forth a furious arc of white light that reduced the spears to dust before they could reach Kaidan.

Harry frowned and slammed his wand outward at the geth elemental, sending it crashing off the catwalk they were perched on and turned towards the geth magus, who had conjured a massive metal wall to counter the burst of chain lightning from Ashley's technomancy-powered gun.

Harry pushed with his magic and the metal melted down, only for the geth magus to throw its arms outward, sending the molten metal sweeping towards Ashley. Harry curled his fist and the molten metal turned to ice, which then shattered into jagged pieces. Harry waved his palm and the pieces reverted, heading back towards the geth magus, only to be reduced to dust by a burst of magic from the metal-and-bone creature.

Ashley headed out of her cover and her hand flashed outward. The magus' shield turned yellow as a grenade thudded upon it and burst into blue flame. Harry saw his opportunity and smashed a crimson jet of light into the shield, which strained under the pressure for a moment, then flickered out of existence. Harry grinned and pushed a _Bombarda_ out, even as Ashley let loose another burst of lightning from her gun. The magus stood no chance – it burst into pieces under their combined onslaught.

"Kaidan?" Harry asked nervously.

"Disarmed, sir," the lieutenant said, standing up and moving away from the previously active bomb. Harry sighed in relief.

"You're pretty damn good with that thing," he said to Ashley as they headed towards the spot where the turian – Saren - had disappeared before their very eyes into thin air.

"It's easier than it looks," Ashley said, though her voice carried a distinctive note of pride, "Especially when you've got a gun that can switch mods at will by _thought_ alone."

Harry nodded tersely as they ventured towards the edge of a platform where the geth forces had been thickest.

And that was when he felt a bone-deep chill _force_ its way through his veins, and a _scream_ echoed through his very mind, sending him staggering to the ground. As one, he, Kaidan and Ashley looked up at the skies above them, only to gape as a series of grotesque shapes _flashed_ through the air. Dreadful, strange, never-ending profiles – the bodies of translucent worms breaking through the clouds, menacing claws whipping through the air, ram-like horns thrusting around in the upper atmosphere, dark fire blazing in the skies.

Something immense _tore_ through the atmosphere and a blaring whistle seared through their minds, only to grow duller with each heart-stopping moment; the dread in their chests deadened and eventually fell away as all three of them staggered to their feet, their hearts filling with relief that they did not quite understand.

"I have no idea what that was," Kaidan panted, "But I sure as hell am glad it's gone."

"Is it?" Ashley asked, unable to keep her voice from trembling as she searched the skies frantically, "I mean… is it truly gone?"

"Shape up," Harry said with confidence that he did not quite feel yet, "The beacon's still here." He pointed towards a tall shard covered with runes that glowed a strange, eerie green.

"They didn't take it with them?" Kaidan asked.

"They wanted it destroyed," Harry deduced, "That's why they armed the bombs. They wanted to level this entire place, along with the beacon. They didn't want the beacon…"

"… Just the information contained _within_ it," Kaidan completed with a nod.

Harry stared at the shard for a long moment before he looked down at his omni-tool, trying to process the flurry of events that happened after they had landed on the planet. He wiped at his brow tiredly as he saw his omni-tool finally connect with the Normandy.

"Potter," came Anderson's relieved voice, "Thank God. I was about to commence rescue operations."

"Jenkins is dead, sir," Harry said grimly, trying desperately to ignore the guilt that bubbled up at the thought of the eager young corporal, "An ambush. His shields were down." He couldn't bring himself to say any more.

"It's okay, Commander," Anderson said quietly, "We'll retrieve him. I take full responsibility for sending Jenkins down with you."

Harry let out a deep sigh and said, "The beacon is safe, sir. The geth… " He trailed off, unsure if Anderson was aware of the geth on the surface.

"The geth," Anderson said tiredly, "We know, Commander. Saw their ships take off a few minutes ago – Joker ID'd them as geth creations."

"Well," Harry said, "They got whatever they wanted off the beacon and took off, sir. They left a present behind – four fusion bombs; they were probably hoping to level the place and destroy the beacon, but we disarmed them. The beacon's still functioning, as far as I can tell."

"Any idea how the geth got involved, Commander?" Anderson asked, "Any intel on their movements?"

Harry took another deep breath. "More bad news," he said grimly, "Nihlus is dead."

Anderson gasped. "I had wondered why we weren't receiving anything from his end…" the Captain wondered, "The geth?"

"An eyewitness reported seeing another turian…" Harry started, but Kaidan's yell cut him off. He turned around to see Ashley approaching the shard with her arm outstretched. The green mist that had lain dormant around it suddenly coalesced around her and _pulled_ her towards it, even as she screamed and struggled to move backwards.

Unthinking, Harry pushed Kaidan aside and crashed into Ashley. He grabbed her around the hip and pulled with all his might. With a burst of magic, he _pushed_ at her and a _snap_ indicated that she had broken free of the shard's pull. Harry watched her stagger back in relief, and then, to his horror, realised that the shard was now pulling _him_ towards it.

He _pushed_ again with his magic, but short of casting a _Bombarda_ at the shard, he simply could not break its pull – he was virtually exhausted at this point after a long and tiring battle against what felt like legions of geth.

"Commander!" Kaidan yelled.

"Don't do _anything_ to the shard," Harry gritted out as he struggled against the pull. Dimly, he saw Kaidan pull a struggling Ashley back from the beacon.

Then, a swirl of green mist in front of him melded to form a spear that slammed right into what felt like his very _mind_. And the world blacked out.

* * *

 _He had no arms, no legs, no tongue, no eyes, no soul._

 _Fire everywhere. The screams of souls, the laughter of thirsting gods. Hellfire rained down upon entire worlds, submerging all in chaos. Misty figures tangled with one another, flesh striving against metal and metal striving against bone._

 _And against it all, there was a voice screaming in his head. About control. Despair. Fury. Damnation._

 _Ascension._

* * *

 _A/N: So... is the clash of worlds becoming too much? Too much magic in your Mass Effect? Is the concept too weird to stomach? Is the writing shoddy? Let me know!_


End file.
